1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a torque transmission assembly, particularly for the drivetrain of a vehicle, comprising two structural component parts which are coupled to one another, or are to be coupled to one another, so as to rotate jointly around an axis of rotation, wherein a first of these structural component parts has an inner circumferential toothing and a second of these structural component parts has an outer circumferential toothing which is in, or is to be brought into, a rotary coupling engagement with the inner circumferential toothing, wherein the teeth in one toothing of an inner circumferential toothing and outer circumferential toothing are bounded by end faces in a first axial end area of the one toothing, in which first axial end area the teeth of the one toothing first enter into rotary coupling engagement with the teeth of the other toothing.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the drivetrain of a vehicle, structural component parts or drivetrain components which are supplied separately prior to assembly of the drivetrain must be coupled with one another at various locations when assembling the drivetrain in order to ensure a flow of torque along the drivetrain or to provide an auxiliary power take-off or a torque support in the drivetrain. This is illustrated in the following with reference to FIG. 1 showing a schematic view of a hydrodynamic torque converter 10. The hydrodynamic torque converter comprises a housing 12 which is to be coupled to a drive unit, e.g., of an internal combustion engine, by a coupling arrangement 14 and can be driven in rotation around an axis of rotation A by means of the coupling arrangement. Generally, an impeller, a turbine and a stator are arranged in the interior of a hydrodynamic torque converter of this kind. The driving torque for a vehicle is transmitted to a transmission input shaft 18 by a turbine hub 16, for example. The stator is supported by a stator hub 20 on a supporting shaft 22 so that it is rotatable in one direction around the axis of rotation A but prevented from rotating in the other direction by the action of a freewheel provided at the stator hub 20. An impeller hub 24 which is furnished by the housing 12 or provided at the latter drives a fluid pump, i.e., an oil pump, for example, which is arranged, e.g., in a gear unit, in rotational operation by a pump shaft 26 and is constructed as a hollow shaft, as is the supporting shaft 22.
Torque transmission assemblies 28, 30, 32, each of which comprises a toothing 34, 36, 38 at one of the structural component parts to be coupled and a toothing 40, 42, 44 at the other one of the structural component parts to be coupled, serve as a torque transmission coupling or torque support coupling between these different parts of the system.
When building a drivetrain in a hydrodynamic torque converter, the hydrodynamic torque converter 10 is installed in direction of the axis of rotation A on the three shafts 18, 22, 26 which are arranged coaxial to one another. It will be seen from FIG. 1 that in so doing it is generally impossible to discern visually whether or not the teeth of the respective toothings which are to be brought into rotary coupling engagement with one another are aligned with respect to one another in such a way that they can mesh with one another axially. In the hydrodynamic torque converter 10, assembly is basically carried out in such a way that when this hydrodynamic torque converter 10 is moved axially toward the three coaxially disposed shafts 18, 22, 26, the toothings 34, 40 of the torque transmission assembly 28 are brought into the state of rotary coupling engagement first and then, in a further axial movement, the toothings 36 and 38 of torque transmission assembly 30 and, finally, the toothings 38, 44 of torque transmission assembly 32 are brought into rotary coupling engagement.
A blocking of axial movement due to collision between toothings 34, 40 and toothings 36, 42 may be remedied by a slight rotation of the torque converter 10. As can be seen from FIG. 2, this blocking of axial movement has to do with the fact that, e.g., the teeth 46 of toothing 34 at the turbine hub are bounded in their axial end area 48, in which they first enter into engagement with the teeth of toothing 40 at the transmission input shaft 18 when producing the rotary coupling engagement, by an end face 50 which basically extends substantially orthogonal to the direction of the axis of rotation and, therefore, also orthogonal to a movement direction R in which the toothings 34, 40 are to be moved toward one another. These end faces 50 are generally slanted in axial direction as can be seen from FIG. 2. This orientation which is basically perpendicular to the movement direction R and to the axis of rotation A prevents further axial movement when the teeth of the toothings 34, 40 collide with one another. The active rotation of the toothings until the end faces of two teeth or toothings no longer collide with one another permits a further axial movement. However, the toothings 38, 44 may be in a situation such that a rotation of the hydrodynamic torque converter 10 in its entirety generally causes the pump driveshaft 26 to rotate along with it as the latter rotates very easily.
Due to the fact that when attempting to rotate the torque converter 10, the pump driveshaft 26 rotates along with it because the toothings collide axially with one another, the rotary coupling engagement of the two toothings 38, 44 can generally only be accomplished by first pulling back the torque converter 10, rotating it slightly without contacting the pump driveshaft 26, and then moving it axially toward the pump driveshaft 26 again. However, it cannot be ascertained visually whether or not the toothings 38, 44 are properly oriented so as to allow the rotary coupling engagement to be produced.